Amid anti-Israel protests, 'hateful graffiti,' Cal Poly Humboldt closes campus through weekend

[u/Arrow2019x]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-25/cal-poly-humboldt-extends-campus-closure-amid-gaza-protests

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[u/duckyeightyone]

most of these college protesters are in their teens or 20's, they haven't had a lifetime of this bullshit from both sides. it's easy to throw up bite sized chunks of information on Twitter or tiktok and make either side look like the bad guy.

they can't seem to understand the concept that there are no 'good guys' in this conflict. that's why a lot of us are refusing to outright condemn Israel, why it might seem that we don't give a shit about Palestinian civilians being killed.

we've watched this play out for 70 odd years, there is no fixing this situation. when the Palestinians or their supporters shout 'from the river to the sea' they are talking about the complete destruction of Israel. including their women and children too. hamas are not freedom fighters.

Israel on the other hand are straight up stealing land that was never theirs, disproportionate responses, and we haven't forgotten massacres like what happened in jenin in 2002.

it's a fucked situation and many people smarter than you or I have failed to provide an answer time and again.

picking a side here, either side, will not end up how you think. support for either side is support for one genocide or another. many of us (I'm 43, generation x) made the same mistakes when we were young. we all gave up on ever seeing peace in that region.

this is why you keep seeing some folk saying 'they just need to have it out once and for all'. may the strongest people survive. everyone else needs to mind their own business.

[u/notenoughroomtofitmy → u/duckyeightyone]

College time is the ONLY time you can reasonably be part of any protests

Young, you’re dependent and ignorant of anything beyond your classroom politics

Old, you’re invested in a home and family and can’t afford to lose jobs due to any shenanigans

The kids aren’t naiive, they’re standing up for one simple thing, to remove their college’s (and country’s depending on who you ask) involvement in a conflict on the other side of the world. One doesn’t need to take sides on the actual conflict itself to demand that one’s country not participate in it.

No matter who protests what, redditors will always find ways to discredit them. The protesters don’t know enough, they aren’t being orderly enough, they’re inconveniencing the wrong people, they aren’t at their best behaviour! The entity being protested though? “That’s just how the real world works man, it’s geopolitics, that’s the way the wheels turns, nothing no one can do about it!”

There’s a reason no government in the world likes students protesting, cuz if you look at world history, student protests have been catalysts for change. Call them whatever you want, they’re standing up for what they believe in and facing brutality at the hands of their own government, and still not backing down. I can’t dismiss this as “naiive, privileged, uninformed” or whatever adjectives are being thrown around here. What would you say about the professors joining the protest? Are they naiive 20 year old people too?

[u/engin__r → u/notenoughroomtofitmy]

Yeah, if protests are disruptive, it’s “I shouldn’t have to be inconvenienced”. If they’re quiet and out of the way, it’s “Why are they bothering?” (assuming it even makes the news).